The Corlears Hook Fencibles played another Marengo game last to tes Bonaparte Waltz rules. I was Bonaparte, Ken was Lannes, Rick was Austrian CO Melas, aided by Bill as O'Reilly and Tom as Ott.
I explained my plan to Ken. We would hold the towns and Fontanone creek as long as possible. When the line became untenable, we would use "on the double" cards to break contact and form a new line about a mile back from the creek. The first part of the plan was executed. Perhaps, if the second part had been…
The ball opened when 30 position guns and perhaps 18 battalion guns opened fire on a
French infantry brigade south of the village of Marengo. The brigade ran off the field, leaving their breakfast behind. Then two brigades attacked the village frontally. Though disorganized (as all French were at the start of the game) the garrison met them with a hail of fire and the attack was driven off with losses.
The French started to rally. Lannes went forward without bothering to get organized. His infantry got into Castel Ceriolo and his cavalry crossed the bridge over Fontanone creek. They were promptly attacked by two brigades of Austrian light cavalry but managed to drive them off. Thoroughly exhausted, the French cavalry fell back behind the stream.
The rest of the Austrian army kept arriving on the road while the troops that had attacked Marengo rallied. They moved forward and attacked again. Again they were driven off by withering fire, one brigade dispersing. But the garrison was exhausted and needed time to recover. Bonaparte arrived on the field with his Consular Guards and marched west towards the roaring guns.
Ott's guns opened fire on Castel Ceriolo, driving the French infantry out. A couple brigades of Austrian cavalry advanced into the town. In time, the French infantry rallied and advanced back into the town. The cavalry declined a street fight and fell back.
Back at Marengo, the third attack went in. Ott led two brigades against the town while another pair of brigades forded the creek and hit from the southwest. Ott fell from the saddle, mortally wounded. An Austrian brigade retreated in disorder. But the others closed and captured the town.
Victor's troops fell back from the town in extreme disorder. North of Marengo, a brigade of Austrian infantry and a battalion of position guns crossed the stream in disorder. Kellermann's cavalry brigade moved out of woods on a road and then used an "on the double" card to attack the disordered troops. A brigade of French light infantry assisted. This attack was loaded with cards; "surprise" gave the attackers the first combat dice, "charge" gave the cavalry another combat die, "follow me" two more and Kellermann as exceptional leader yet one more for 10 combat dice. This yielded a number of hits and retreats, forcing the Austrians back across the muddy stream. The infantry was roughly handled and the guns were knocked out for the rest of the day. This little triumph had the seeds of defeat in it, as I forgot about my plan.
As the Austrians moved across the Marengo bridge and others forded the stream south of the town, I prepared to fight over the hamlet of La Buzana.
In a fur-ball of a fight, first I threw in what was left of Victor's corps. Then Monnier's division was savaged. And finally Desaix with Boudet's division plunged into the fight. The Austrians threw in their pair of grenadier brigades. They were taking a toll on the French.
I was hitting them with 10 to 12 combat dice. They came back with numbers like 17. I should have fallen back and reorganized the line, waiting for reinforcements. Instead I went toe to toe with the Austrians, who already had most of their troops present. I also used up all of my "on the double" cards getting troops into the fight, instead of breaking contact.
Kellermann and his brigade fought mightily. Once they charged back to the outskirts of Marengo but had to fall back when a division of Austrian infantry advanced supported by cavalry.
Another time the brigade and the Consular Guard were halted in disorder after a fight. Before they could move, the Austrians played a ‘cavalry counterattack" card and fell on them. The attack was driven off in disorder but the Guards and cavalry were exhausted by this and fell back behind the fraying French line. By now the French army was wavering, slowing down activation and rallying.
Desaix put in one last attack, driving one of the grenadier brigades back in disorder. Everything in the Austrian army that could still fight attacked, breaking two French brigades. Half of the units in the French army had gone and the army broke.
We played 11 turns in 2 hours and 40 minutes. This is the first time in months that an army broke – a testament to my berserk tactics. French losses were less than 11,000 while Austrian losses were near 6,500. After the game a fireworks display went off from a barge in the river, close enough for us to watch from the balcony. Fuzzy photo follows:
We had no idea what the occasion was though the Austrian players helpfully suggested it was to celebrate their victory. Once everyone had left, it occurred to me that to test the pursuit rules. The Austrians had three cavalry brigades in good order. One was negated by the one French cavalry brigade in good order. Each light cavalry brigade got two dice, and then two more because there were more than two turns left in the game. With 5's and 6's counting as hits, I rolled and got 4 more hits. That was enough to rout the last two formed brigades of French line infantry, leaving the Consular Guards as the only formed infantry in the army. This would push French losses to nearly 12,000, with almost 50% losses among the infantry. A thumping defeat is not the way to win a crown for Bonaparte.
You'd think the scenario is balanced against the French, since they lost twice in two weeks. But last week, they were headed towards a workman-like victory over my Austrians and only lost because Rick, impatient, began using Bonaparte to lead charges. After a number of successes, Bonaparte was wounded and captured. In both games, French defeat was due to the lead player losing control. I think the scenario is balanced and has re-play value, since both games were going different ways. The rules seem done. I await blind testing results and am planning on getting the rules posted some time next month.
gets started with Flintloque.
